A3 report

How the A3 report works

An A3 report puts one problem on one sheet of A3 paper: the left half tells the problem (why it matters, what is happening, what should happen, why it happens), the right half what is done about it and whether it worked. It follows PDCA: plan (sections 1–4 and the countermeasures), do (the plan), check (the follow-up), act (standardise or start again). A3 problem solving is a common practice, not a standard; the seven sections here are the usual ones, in FactoKit’s own wording.

Sections and figures

• Background, current condition, goal: text, with one metric that tells whether the problem is solved: its baseline, target, unit and whether lower or higher is better.
• Root cause analysis: the Ishikawa diagram (causes in 6M categories with a status: not assessed, suspected, verified, ruled out) and 5 Why chains, the same editors as the 8D report, then the root cause in one or two sentences.
• Countermeasures: what, against which root cause, who, when and the status; done = done / (all − cancelled).
• Implementation plan: steps with owner, start, end and done; a step past its end that is not done is overdue.
• Follow-up: the metric's values in the order measured, drawn as a run chart with the baseline and the target. Gap closed = (baseline − latest) / (baseline − target): 0 % at the baseline, 100 % at the target, more beyond it, less than 0 % when it got worse. The same formula works when higher is better.

Worked example (the tool’s example)

1. Scrap of a bracket at a press: baseline 4.2 %, target 1.5 %, lower is better.
2. The Ishikawa diagram marks worn punches with no regrind interval and the missing first-part check as verified; faster strokes and coil thickness are ruled out. A 5 Why chain from the worn punches ends at “no regrind interval was ever set”.
3. After two of four countermeasures the weekly values fall 4.2, 4.0, 3.1, 2.4, 1.9, 1.7: gap closed = (4.2 − 1.7) / (4.2 − 1.5) = 2.5 / 2.7 = 93 %, target not reached yet; the report stays in Check.

Common mistakes

• Writing the solution into the problem statement: the current condition is facts, the cause comes later.
• A goal without a number and a date: then the check cannot say whether it worked.
• Countermeasures against symptoms: each one should name the root cause it removes.
• Stopping at the first good week: follow the metric long enough to see that the change holds, then standardise.
• Filling the sheet alone at the desk: the A3 is a conversation with the people at the process and the manager.

Files

• On this website the report is saved in this browser (IndexedDB) as you work, one report at a time; Save JSON keeps it as a file that opens again here or in the offline file. The offline file stores nothing.
• Print / PDF puts the whole report on one A3 landscape sheet in two halves; use “Save as PDF” in the print dialog. Export Word writes the same sections on A4 for editing; Export Excel a sheet per section, with the latest value and the gap closed as formulas.
• The blank A3 form (fillable PDF, Word, Excel) is for working on paper or in your own program.
• Pictures cannot be added: the page loads nothing but its own files, and a photo would have to be read into the page as data. Describe what a photo would show, or keep photos next to the printed sheet.

Questions

What is an A3 report?

A way to work through one problem on one sheet of A3 paper, named after the paper size. The left half describes the problem: background, current condition, goal and root cause analysis; the right half the countermeasures, the plan and the follow-up. Its value is the thinking it forces and the conversation it starts, not the form itself.

How is an A3 report different from an 8D report?

Both use the same root cause tools. An 8D report is the usual answer to a customer complaint, with a team, containment of the defect and formal closure. An A3 report is lighter and fits any problem or improvement inside the plant, from scrap to change-over time, and follows plan, do, check, act on one sheet.

What does gap closed mean?

How much of the way from the baseline to the target the latest value has gone: (baseline − latest) / (baseline − target). 0 % means no change, 100 % the target reached, more than 100 % beyond the target, a negative value that the metric got worse. It works for metrics where lower is better and where higher is better.

When is an A3 report finished?

When the follow-up shows that the target is reached and holds, and the countermeasures are made the standard (work instructions, maintenance plans, training), shared with similar processes, and the open questions are written down as next steps. Then the status moves from Check to Act.

Related tools

• 8D report: the same Ishikawa and 5 Why for a customer complaint, with containment and closure.
• Pareto chart: which defect to take on first.
• Value stream map: where in the stream the problem costs lead time.
• Control charts: whether the improvement holds over time.